


Pretty as a Picture; Sharp as a Knife (on hiatus)

by perpetually_in_need_of_a_nap (All_Of_The_Heros)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Moon prince sokka, Should I mention said sister is from another dimension, Spirit Shenanigans, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, so they toss one onto his ship, the spirits decide Zuko needs a big sister, then he falls overboard, zuko is adopted by the southern water tribe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:40:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25188076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_Of_The_Heros/pseuds/perpetually_in_need_of_a_nap
Summary: Hakoda finds the Fire Lord’s son floating in the ocean, and plans to hold the boy for ransom, but all of those plans are quickly dashed. What can he do but try and convince the Fire Lords heir that this war needs to end? If only this plan hadn’t been suggested by a young woman who claims Zuko as her younger brother in all but blood.
Relationships: Hakoda & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Oc, Zuko & The Southern Water Tribe
Comments: 24
Kudos: 227





	1. Little Brothers are Deadly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Salvage](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21116591) by [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/pseuds/MuffinLance). 



> This first few chapters of this fic are heavily inspired by MuffinLance's salvage.

_Tonight is the night_ , Alice thought. She had packed her bags and was ready to run because she wasn’t going to kill a man just because someone had paid her to, well more accurately, they’d paid her parents who decided that seventeen was old enough to be sent out on her first mission.

Years ago, Alice decided she’d die before being the heartless mercenary her parents tried and failed to raise. She’d never kill for money; she’d made that to someone dear to her on their deathbed, and she intended to keep it even if it cost her life.

So, Alice planned on disappearing into the wind, but you know what they say when man plans god laughs, or in this case, god decided to take the whole disappearing thing literally. Alice tossed her bag out the window, but she was so distracted, making sure no one knew that she was leaving that Alice didn’t notice the lack of ground under her widow when she jumped.

When Alice didn’t stop falling, her heart flew into her throat, and her brain quit working because not only was she still falling, but in a flash of light, her surroundings had suddenly changed. The only thing that saved her from breaking her legs while barreling toward the Wani’s metal deck had been the thirteen years of intensive training her parents had drilled into her that kept her body moving even when her mind couldn’t.

Drawing a knife while doing a shoulder roll was a complex skill, one wrong move, and she risked cutting something vital, but it was one Alice had mastered.

Alice’s crimson hair wiped in the wind as the startled wide-eyed crew regarded her, debating what kind of spirit had just found its way onto their rain-soaked deck.

“Who are you,” Prince Zuko demanded while looking every bit the hurt scared boy he’d been at thirteen once you saw past the bandages and the glare at least that is. It didn’t take Alice long; she remembered being hurt and terrified at that age and desperately wishing for her brother because if he were there, he’d make things better he always did.

(Two and a half years later)

Alice felt her heart drop when Zuko fell over the railing, it wasn’t the first storm they’d been in, and Zuko had always had stupidly fast reflexes, and because she’d help train him in hand to hand she knew he should have been able to grab onto that railing and hold it, yet he still went crashing into the waves.

The crew had already thrown him a line, but Zuko’s armor kept pulling him down, and he couldn’t get to it, and there was nothing the crew could do without ending up in the same situation themselves, but unlike the rest of the Wani’s crew, Alice wasn’t fond of wearing armor.

Her fighting style relied on movements that were as quick as a whip, and heavy metal tended to impede that. Even without that extra hindrance, it was still dumb of her to jump into stormy seas, but Zuko couldn’t seem to keep himself above water, and he was her younger brother in all but blood. Alice wasn’t going to watch him drown if there was something she could do.

So with one of her knives between her teeth Alice dove, the freezing ocean water nearly drowned her as she fought the urge to gasp from the cold, but she didn’t have time to contemplate this because Zuko was going under again.

Fighting the choppy ocean waves to get to him took more time then she was comfortable with, and by the time she was there, her fingers were nearly numb with the cold so much so that she fumbled with her knife as she attempted to sever the young prince’s shoulder straps. Luckily, she’d managed to keep from dropping it, even if just barely.

Alice blocked out the sound of Iroh calling for them, better to think about how much they’d worried the old man, who’d practically adopted her after they’d gotten safely back on the Wani. Only they didn’t end up safely on the ship, they’d worked as quickly as they could and managing to come up for air when they needed to, but by the time Alice and Zuko had managed to cut through or undue the waterlogged leather straps, the Wani was out of sight.

Out of all the ways Alice had thought she’d die, this hadn’t been one of them. Realistically after nearly three years on a ship, it should have been, but she’d always thought she’d die in a fight or at least the in the aftermath of one.

Alice and Zuko held onto each other with as much strength as they could muster afraid what would happen if they got separated, at some point they’d managed to find a piece of driftwood and tied themselves to it using Zuko’s sash.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It was sunrise when Hakoda ordered the two vaguely alive people pulled from the water, the boy identified himself as the Fire Prince, the girl wasn’t even awake at all. Hakoda didn’t even need to speak to Kustaa, the ship’s healer, to know that was unbelievably bad. The only reason they’d even been able to pull her out was that the Fire Prince had latched onto her and refused to let go when the Akhlut’s crew had thrown them a line.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It was days later when Alice’s fever broke, leaving her covered in sweat, but more aware then she’d been since she’d dived into the ocean. Possibly even just before that if one wanted to argue the merits of jumping into a stormy sea to save her younger brother.

That hadn’t ended as badly as it could have all things considered. At least they were still alive though for how long was a different issue entirely because Zuko wasn’t in the room with her and while she’d trained the boy in hand to hand combat herself and knew for a fact he could handle himself even on a damn wooden ship.

The problem was, in fact, that it was a wooden ship, that meant two things, a whoever this was definitely wasn’t fire nation and b they might think that holding a firebender was too dangerous. It wasn’t a leap in logic to believe that they might just throw Zuko overboard because Alice wasn’t under any illusions; he couldn’t lie to save his life.

Alice dismissed the possibility that Zuko might already be dead, she’d believe that when she saw it.


	2. The Spirts Like to Interfere

Hakoda stared at the mystery of the girl in front of him. She was water tribe dark with hazel eyes that he’d only seen in earth kingdom soldiers, but tui and la he’d never seen someone with hair like hers, it almost looked as if it was coated in blood.   
Hakoda couldn’t believe it when the girl who, by all rights, should have still been weak with fever charged into his quarters and demanding answers.  
“Where is Zuko,” The girl asked with an eerie calm in her voice that sent shivers down Hakoda’s spine. He’d seen what she could do when Aake had threatened to break Zuko’s leg, and that was when she was when she’d still been delirious with fever. He didn’t want to know what she’d do now that she was aware, and that didn’t even mention the fact that Kustaa had pulled more knives off her than one person should own.  
“The prince is fine if a bit growly,” Hakoda said, trying to placate her, wanting to avoid an incident like the one on his deck a few days ago. Aake still hadn’t gotten over the fact that the little cobra-rat had broken his nose, not to mention something about her made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up in a way that almost seemed vaguely familiar. If what the Fire Prince said was true, she’d just been defending those she considered her kin, Hakoda couldn’t fault her for that.  
“Hopefully, if we’re all lucky, the Fire Lord will pay his ransom quickly, and we can all go our separate ways.”  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
Alice felt her legs try and buckle out from under her, she thankfully had the mental fortitude to keep upright. Showing her fear to the man who had all the power in this situation would be bad, so she kept herself together and sat down in the chair across from Hakoda’s desk.  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
Suddenly Hakoda knew why Alice sent a chill down his spine.  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
Sokka was born three months to early, the tribe had a few babies that small survive before, but always during the prosperous polar summer, never the harsh sunless winter. Yet Hakoda couldn’t bring himself to give up on the boy, so he bundled the boy up as best he could and took Sokka deep into the great forest.  
Many of the spirits of the forest were kind, and perhaps they’d find it in the heart to listen to a father’s pleas, though Hakoda knew some were not so kind and that bringing his son here was a big risk, for they might decide to make Hakoda suffer by taking Sokka and making him a spirt child.  
Spirt children were rare; most were made when a spirt felt pity for a child who’s tribe had neglected to do what had to be done to ensure the child’s safety. After all, it was the tribe’s job to make sure every child in it was taken care of even if that meant a father going out hunting or a mother foraging but never returning.  
Everyone knew life in the south pole was hard, accidents happened, and knew what would happen if they didn’t when they were supposed to, the spirts would lure the abused child into the forest. They would wander back into the village the next day, nothing more then an empty husk, but it was whispered that sometimes at night, if the sky is clear, you might catch a glimpse of one playing between the trees.  
It’d happened to Bato whose father had hidden what he did to son well enough that no one suspected a thing. It was only when Bato had wandered back into the village that Hakoda’s father Amaruq had discovered what had been happing to the boy. Later that night Amaruq and some of the other men took Bato’s body and his father.  
Bato came back both in body and soul, but his father didn’t, no one mentioned the blood on chief Amaruq’s clothes.   
When Hakoda got to the center of the forest, a moonbeam seemed to cast down onto Sokka and envelop him in its light as the boy’s hair turned white Hakoda knew he’d live.  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  
Alice had the same kind of offness that Sokka and Bato had. Alice was spirt-touched Hakoda felt his blood run cold at the thought.  
It was apparent now that he looked at her. He’d never seen anyone with red hair before, just like he’d never seen a baby with white hair before Sokka. Suddenly the prince’s story about her being from another world seemed much more probable.


End file.
